10 Driven Celebrities Who Worked Their Way Back To The Top

Fame can be a fickle thing. Obviously, it’s a real struggle to reach the top of the A-List, but it might be even more difficult to stay there.

Unfortunately, many celebrities experience painful falls from grace after initially winning fame and fortune from their art. That’s not to say that it isn’t possible for them to find themselves back in the limelight, though!

That’s certainly what each of these entertainers were able to do. It may not have been easy, but after career rough patches, they’re back at the top of their game!

1. Ben Affleck: After achieving significant success and acclaim early in his career, including winning an Academy Award for co-writing Good Will Hunting, Affleck had a downturn in the early 2000s. In that time he “won” a Golden Raspberry award for Worst Actor for his performances in Paycheck and Daredevil. Luckily, by the early 2010s, his career was back on an upswing.

2. Angelina Jolie: In 2016, shortly after her divorce from Brad Pitt, Jolie didn’t appear in a single film for the first time in many years. Some even began to worry about her health. Luckily, by the next year, she was both looking healthier and signing onto more projects.

3. Vince Vaughn: After launching his career in the 1980s, Vaughn started to gain recognition for roles in 1990s classics such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Swingers. By the late 2000s, he wasn’t seeing as many movies released. His appearance in True Detective in 2015 helped lead to his comeback.

4. Mel Gibson: Though he had a great career for decades with such films as Mad Max and Braveheart, Gibson’s career started falling apart in the mid-2000s due in large part to a series of inflammatory, racist, and anti-Semitic remarks. His 2016 directorial effort, Hacksaw Ridge helped change that trajectory.

5. Renee Zellweger: After a number of successful years with films such as Jerry Maguire and Bridget Jones’s Diary, Zellweger’s career slipped. Warning signs arose around 2014 when she significantly changed her appearance, making her almost unrecognizable. Although, by 2016, things started looking up for her again!

6. Alec Baldwin: Though he was a quintessential leading man throughout much of the 1980s and ’90s, Baldwin went through a stretch of limited appearances due to feeling a creative block. By the mid-2000s, his starring role on the sitcom 30 Rock helped boost his popularity once again.

7. Britney Spears: In the late 1990s, Spears was the definition of a pop star, but in the mid-2000s, her career took a significant downturn as she struggled with depression. She’s doing much better now with more hit songs and a popular Las Vegas residency.

8. Robert Downey Jr: Though he may have been a victim of early success—he infamously struggled with a legal issues and substance abuse—Downey Jr. has since bounced back. This is largely due to his starring role as Iron Man/Tony Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

9. Christina Aguilera: The pop star went through a bit of a rough patch after her divorce in the early 2010s. Since, she’s definitely bounced back with more hit songs and her involvement as a judge on NBC’s The Voice.

10. Macauley Culkin: Sadly, despite being a beloved child star, Culkin fell victim to substance abuse and other issues that hurt his image and career. He’s looking much healthier now, and he even landed his first starring role in years with Changeland.

Hopefully, each one of these celebrities enjoys continued success now that they’ve bounced back. If they did it once, they can do it again!

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